“DLT” recognised at Twickenham

Society stalwart Dave Thomas – known to many as “DLT” – has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to rugby and more than 50 years involvement in refereeing with a VIP trip to Twickenham.

In his heyday, DLT was one of England’s top flight referees in his heyday and also became one of Scotland’s leading officials when work commitments took him north of the border. He has given the Society many years of loyal service as an administrator. In recognition of this service, the Society had nominated DLT to the RFRU under the Mitsubishi “Reward the Voulnteer” scheme.

In DLT’s words…

“I was very fortunate to receive an invitation from the RFU to attend the England v South Africa game. The invite was to stay at the Lensbury Hotel on the Friday night and then transport to Twickenham on Saturday morning . We were then provided with a conducted tour of part of the stadium by Steve Grainger. This included going around the changing rooms, having a talk by the Groundsman and then the Medical facilities, which are as good as any hospital.

Our photos were being constantly taken, one while we were sitting in the Royalty seats and then visited the Sky TV studio. After the tour we were greeted in the Council members’ bar.

Having had lunch we then took our seats in the Royal Box to watch the game. Almost immediately after the game there was a Dinner for about 300 where some speeches were made, unfortunately the players did not join us. When looking at the Menu for the Dinner I was surprised to see that David Lloyd Thomas’ name was on the back. This lead to a surprise presentation by Eddie Jones to myself and three other Volunteers under the scheme. A Certificate was given to me and also a book outlining the 100 years of history at Twickenham , plus two champagne flutes with the appropriate bottle of Bollinger.

I was introduced by the RFU President as a Welshman but I quickly put him right that I am a Gloucestershire, born and bred and proud of it. A number of people also said after that they only knew me as DLT so I took a bit of ‘ribbing’.

DLT : “Neil Chivers has shown us what you get at Gloucester… but here’s was on offer at Twickenham”

A society member for more than 50 years, we’re delighted Dave was honoured in this way, which was truly well deserved.